Saturday, November 16, 2013

Good Luck Ducks, Week 12: Finding It Again

Oregon tries to regroup after a brutal loss.

There isn't a whole lot to say about Oregon's last game, and I certainly don't feel like writing about it much. Oregon flat out sucked last week. They were awful, in every facet of the game, for more than three quarters. It was horrible. And for the second year in a row, it's Stanford that took them out of the running for a national title before anyone could have a serious debate about BCS rankings. A one-loss Stanford team now has more claim to the throne of the conference than Oregon does, and that is sad for a team that has been utterly dominant for the last 5 years.

Playing Utah this week is not likely to get the bad taste out of Oregon's mouth, but I'm sure it will help the players quite a bit to get back on the field and find someone to smack around besides themselves. Utah is no lock for a bowl berth with three games remaining on the schedule for each team, but they are certainly dangerous as they lead the entire nation in sacks per game. Utah happens to be the only team that beat Stanford this year, and they lost in close games against other very talented conference teams like Oregon State, UCLA and Arizona State. Due to weird scheduling quirks, this will be the first meeting between the two teams since Utah joined the conference.

The worst thing is to let a team beat you twice, and while I'm sure the Stanford loss will still be fresh in their minds as they take the field today, I expect Oregon to shake off the hurt quickly and put Utah down by a few touchdowns at least. Marcus Mariota's health is starting to be a bit of a concern as he was seen wearing a knee brace and walking gingerly against the Cardinal, but the Ducks did get good news in De'Anthony Thomas's late burst of production. Mariota may not be long for the college game, so it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for the backup QBs to get some work in.

In their last meeting back in 2009, Oregon won in a sloppy battle between the two schools.

Game time is 1:00 PST in Eugene with national coverage on Fox Sports 1. Go Ducks!

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